Letter to the editor

Comment

Cheboygan Daily Tribune - Cheboygan, MI

Writer

Posted Dec. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Dec. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Boards only deserve earned respect Oliver, who at the Township Board Meeting tremblingly comes forward, question in hand, and makes his famous request: "Please, sir, I want some answers". Answers? Answers?, the Board parrots Oliver's plaintive plea. Have you submitted a question in writing using the approved form, 30 days in advance of the meeting? In black ink? No? Sorry. Township Boards are not here to provide answers. As a Township Board we are elected to do as we see fit. We don't answer questions from the public. It's not required by law. We checked with our legal counsel. Obviously we are smarter than you. We got elected, not you. You may comment, but like Charlie Brown, all the Board hears is "whaa-whaa-whaa". We are elected Township officials and want decorum at our meetings. You have three minutes to go "whaa-whaa-whaa”, but we insist you bow and grovel before us. We will question your right to free speech. We will question your residency and ask if you are a registered voter. If you dare to speak out or criticize us, we will censure you. Our intimate cronies, the people we really work for, will roll their eyes knowingly and titter amongst themselves. Those supportive cronies will spread anonymous malicious gossip and innuendo attacking “naysayers” by any means available including the internet. With apologies to Dickens and Schulz, Township Boards, all elected officials, work on our dime and serve at our behest. Not the other way around. If any of this sound like your Township Board and your interactions with them; stand up on your own two legs, grow the proverbial pair, get some attitude, and don’t cower to the people you employ. Our elected public servants deserve the respect they earn, nothing more. Carl Muscott Indian River